nasalis muscle

The nasalis (compressor naris) is a sphincter-like muscle of the nose whose function is to compress the nasal cartilage. It consists of two parts, transverse and alar: The transverse part arises from the maxilla, above and lateral to the incisive fossa; its fibers proceed upward and medially, expanding into a thin aponeurosis which is continuous on the bridge of the nose with that of the muscle of the opposite side, and with the aponeurosis of the Procerus. The alar part is attached at one end to the greater alar cartilage, and at the other to the integument at the point of the nose. Other sources divide it into 'Compressor nasalis' and 'Dilator nasalis'. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the nasalis muscle is

The nasalis (compressor naris) is a sphincter-like muscle of the nose whose function is to compress the nasal cartilage. It consists of two parts, transverse and alar: The transverse part arises from the maxilla, above and lateral to the incisive fossa; its fibers proceed upward and medially, expanding into a thin aponeurosis which is continuous on the bridge of the nose with that of the muscle of the opposite side, and with the aponeurosis of the Procerus. The alar part is attached at one end to the greater alar cartilage, and at the other to the integument at the point of the nose. Other sources divide it into 'Compressor nasalis' and 'Dilator nasalis'. The atlas records it as a muscle at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the nasalis muscle is

It sits in the head, within the muscular and sensory systems. Not positioned individually, and containment is not asserted either. Drawn near structures of the same kind, which is a weak claim about location.

What the nasalis muscle connects to

The atlas records 5 typed relationships for it, across 4 kinds of connection. part of material anatomical entity.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the nasalis muscle. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.

Also called

Also recorded as nasalis, compressor naris, compressor narium minor, compressor nasi and musculus nasalis. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0010953, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

Part of: material anatomical entity.
A kind of: anatomical structure and nasal muscle.
inserts into: nasal bone.
originates from: maxilla.

Questions

Where is the nasalis muscle?

What does the nasalis muscle connect to?

Part of: material anatomical entity.

Is the nasalis muscle the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.